


Melon Heads

by scullyphile



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Camping, F/M, MSR, Midwest, Sleeping Bags, melon heads, tent, woods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-18
Updated: 2015-11-18
Packaged: 2018-05-02 07:52:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5240513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullyphile/pseuds/scullyphile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mulder and Scully camping in the same tent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Melon Heads

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact about this one: it takes place in my hometown and features a local urban legend I heard about in high school. I thought it was just about as ridiculous as Scully does, of course. It takes place in the late summer, early fall of 1999, when I was actually in high school.

The trunk popped open to reveal an obscene amount of camping gear. 

“What is all this?” she asked. “How long are we going to be out here?”

“Hopefully not long. Grab some bags, Scully. It’s getting dark. We have to get set up before the sun goes down.”

They each picked up some of the gear and started walking. She had about four different bags hanging from her shoulders and a heavy drink cooler in her right hand. She teetered from side to side, and Mulder smiled as he walked behind her. 

“You still haven’t told me why we’re out here,” she pointed out, throwing her voice over her shoulder at him. “And please don’t tell me this has anything to do with that movie you dragged me to last month.”

“The Blair Witch Project? Well, it was supposed to be based on a true story,” he joked.

“No. No, it wasn’t.”

“The Blair Witch Project was in Burkittsville, Maryland, not in Holland, Michigan. Get your facts straight, Agent Scully.”

She rolled her eyes and dropped the heaviest of the bags on the ground to further illustrate that she was done taking his crap.

“What is it, Mulder? Is there a witch in these woods? Do you have camera equipment in there?”

“Oh I have cameras, but not for filming ourselves with snot dripping out of our noses.”

“What are we filming? UFOs? Ghosts? Bigfoot? Am I getting hotter or colder?”

“Always getting hotter, Scully. That’s why I brought the cameras.”

–

After transporting the gear to their campsite, they were able to quickly set up the tent and start a fire, tasks they accomplished without speaking. Scully had raised her eyebrow at the realization that there was only one tent but said nothing. 

It was the end of September. The days were still warm, but the nights were getting chilly. The sky was clear and filled with stars. Scully was looking up at them when he spoke.

“Have you ever heard of the Melon Heads?”

“Sounds like a candy.”

“That’s Lemon Heads. The Melon Heads are a local legend in these parts. They’re tiny, humanoid creatures with bulbous heads. They’re said to come out of the woods and attack people.”

“You’re thinking aliens?”

“They could be aliens. Sure, you hear bulbous heads and encounters in the woods and immediately you think ‘it’s aliens; call Spooky Mulder.’ I get it. But for once I don’t think we’re dealing with little gray men. It could be some kind of earthly creature, a cryptid maybe. Or some people believe they’re mutants or insane orphans with hydrocephalus.”

“Hydrocephalus,” she repeated flatly.

“And there have been some sightings by local teenagers in this area recently.”

“Oh, goody,” she said, and they sat quietly by the fire for several minutes.

There was a rustling sound to their left, a movement in the trees. Scully drew her gun and pointed it in the direction of the sound. Mulder’s gun was in the tent. He’d taken it off while setting up. She covered him so he could retrieve it. 

As he stood up he heard her laughing.

“What?”

“It’s just a raccoon. Although, I guess his head is slightly bulbous,” she offered, laughing louder.

“OK, Scully, we’ll see who’s laughing in the morning when we check the footage on all these night-vision cameras I have set up around the campsite,” he said dousing the fire with a bucket of water. “Let’s get some sleep.”

They climbed into the tent in the dark. Once inside, they kicked off their shoes. There were sleeping bags and pillows for each of them, and they crawled into the sleeping bags still wearing their clothes.

Mulder was comfortable and would have been able to fall asleep easily, except the tossing and turning of his partner was keeping him awake.

“What’s up?” he asked when he could take it no longer.

“There’s a big rock under me, and the ground is uneven,” she complained. “Trade sides with me.”

“No way. It’s just as lumpy on this side.”

“How do you know until you try it? C'mon, Mulder. For me?”

“You can lie on top of me if you want. I bet that would be more comfortable,” Mulder said. He was using that tone he was fond of recently, the half-joking, half-flirting one that she wasn’t about to admit she liked. Not yet, anyway.

“What would you do if I took you up on that offer?” she asked in a low voice.   
It was then that he realized how close her face was to his, how close her body was to his.

“There are two sleeping bags and two sets of clothes between us. How much could I really do?” But part of him was already imagining all of the things he could do. That part of him was smitten with the possibilities. 

There was a rustling as Scully rolled in her sleeping bag. She rolled on top of him so that they were nose to nose. Her hair was tickling his cheek as she kissed him lightly on the lips. When he said nothing, she kissed him again, this time tenderly slipping her tongue inside his mouth. Even through two sets of clothing and two thick sleeping bags she could feel what thinking about all the possibilities had done to him.


End file.
